Oil burner



Feb. 1, 1966 E. COLIN-SMITH OIL BURNER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1' Original Filed Feb. 27, 1961 Inventor ERIC COLIN-SMITH 1966 E. COLlN-SMITH OIL BURNER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Feb. 27, 1961 Attorney Feb. 1, 1966 E. COLIN-SMITH 3,232,542

OIL BURNER Original Filed Feb. 27, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 v Attorne y Feb. 1, 1966 E. COLIN-SMiTH OIL BURNER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ()Figinal Filed Feb. 27, 1961 Inventor ERIC COLIN-5M! TH Attorney United States Patent BURNER Eric Coiin-Smith, 4 Damien Road, Weiiesley, Mass. I, Continuation of application Ser. No. 91,952, Feb. 27, 1% This application Dec. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 331387 4 (Ilaizns. (61. 239-4273) This is a continuation of application Serial No. 91,952, filed Feb. 27, 1961, now abandoned.

This invention relates to improvements in oil burners, and more particularly to domestic oil burners, for use in house heating, water heating and the like, and the principal object of the invention is to provide an oil burner of extremely high efficiency which will burn without excess air with complete combustion of the fuel and without smoke and with extremely low stack temperatures whereby substantially the entire heat energy of the fuel is made available for heating purposes.

in this connection, it will be understood that the effecting of complete combustion without smoke will eliminate the depositing out of soot on all heat transfer surfaces of the heating unit, thereby eliminating the heat transfer loss occasioned by this highly insulating material almost universally present in conventional burner installations and eliminating also the usual requirements for regular furnace clean-outs.

Another and important object is to provide a burner which will burn efiiciently as aforesaid regardless of the direction in which it is oriented, with the burner providing a continuous flame while permitting the fuel input to be varied over a wide range even when the burner is in operation.

Still another important object is to enable the flame pattern to be controlled to provide a wide variation therein to suit the particular furnace installation with which the burner is employed, and further, to make such control very simple so that the requisite flame pattern can be qiuckly and easily achieved in the field by the installer. By the control of the flame pattern and area of flame and by the ability to reduce stack temperatures to a minimum, it will be understood that, insofar as new burner installations are concerned, reduced sizes of stacks may be resorted to, leading to important construction savings.

Another and important object is to provide a burner device which may be easily and quickly mounted in the existing draft tube or barrel of existing gun-type burners so that the present components can be quickly and easily replaced with my new burner device in the field to provide the above referred to burner efiiciencies.

Again it is an object to enable control of the character of combustion by providing a flame which can be controlled in the field to provide an oxidizing, neutral, or reducing atmosphere.

Still a further important object is to provide a burner as aforesaid which will be of economical manufacture and adapted for mass production.

The principal feature of the invention resides in providinx a novel arrangement of air and oil feed within the draft tube of a domestic burner whereby the oil is subjected to at least a first stage atomization in the feed tube prior to being ejected into the secondary air delivered through the draft tube.

Another important feature is to provide a control of secondary air at the point of ejection of the at least partially atomized oil to effect further atomization while at the same time provide for the requisite amount of air for complete combustion of the atomized oil.

Still another important feature resides in providing for a wide range of variation of the manner and direction of the ejection of the at least partially atomized oil through the use of interchangeable fittings to provide for variations "ice in flame pattern to suit the wide range of furnaces and conditions encountered in the field.

In the same vein, it is a further feature to provide for a wide range of control of the manner of completion of atomization by the secondary air through the provision of interchangeable fittings to again increase the flexibility of the flame pattern selection to meet field conditions encountered.

More particularly, according to the preferred form of the invention, there is provided a body member having means for central mounting in the secondary air draft tube leading into the combustion chamber and providing for oil flow centrally therethrough to a nozzle in the form of an open-ended tube extending substantially axially of the draft tube and having an air chamber arrange to create an annular flow of primary pressure air around the oil tube structure within a nozzle cover, the nozzle structure having inlet openings adjacent to the tip thereof to afford entry of the pressure air into the oil stream in the nozzle for first stage oil atomization prior to ejection of the oil from the nozzle.

Also according to the preferred form of the invention there is provided an adjustable tuyere or secondary air flow control member concentrically surrounding the nozzle within the draft tube, the tuyere or secondary air flow member being adjustably supported for movement axially of the oil nozzle from the body member. It will be understood that the said tuyere may vary from installation to installation and it is a further feature to removably as well as adjustably mount the tuyere from the body member for rapid field installation or interchange. In this connection, it is a further feature to provide for a specific range of air inlet to tuyere outlet volume to provide for requisite secondary air flow control for atomization and combustion.

Still further according to the invention, provision is made for flame spread by the addition of selective nozzle members adapted to be removably mounted on the nozzle cover to separate the initially atomized oil stream ejected from the open end of the oil tube into a plurality of separate streams.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view partly broken away of an oil burner installation embodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through the draft tube and showing the burner head and tuyere mainly in elevation but partly broken away;

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevational view on a reduced scale of the draft tube showing the draft regulator with the air and oil inlet tubes in section;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view partly broken away of a burner head corresponding to the burner head shown in FIGURES l and 2 but showing a secondary nozzle applied to the burner head and an alternative form of tuyere;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective View partially broken away of the burner head having the tuyere illustrated in FIG- URE 4 attached thereto;

FIGURE 6 is an end elevational view of the secondary nozzle applied to the burner head as shown in FIG- URE 4:

FIGURES 7 and 8 are mid-vertical sectional views of alternative forms of secondary nozzles which may he employed;

FIGURE 9 is a part-elevational, part-vertical sectional view of an alternative form of tuyere that may be attached to the burner head;

FIGURE is a vertical mid-vertical sectional view of still a further form of tuyere that may be attached to the burner head.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, the burner is shown as of the gun type with the usual draft tube or barrel I extending through an opening in the Wall 2 of the combustion chamber 3 of a furnace or the like. Mounted within the draft tube 1 is the .burner head generally designated at 4- and Comprising a body casting 5 into which air and oil is delivered through air and oil lines 6 and 7 respectively. The body casting 5 also supports electrodes 8 and carries a tuyere 9. Air and oil are fed in regulated volumes and at controlled pressures to the air line and oil line 6 and 7 respectively from any suitable means, preferably from an air-oil pump device generally designated at '14) which cornprises the subject matter of my co-pend-ing application, Serial Number 91,952. The burner also comprises the usual driving motor 11 and may include a blower 12 for providing secondary air into the draft tube 1. The unit may be mounted on the conventional mount comprising a base 13 and standard 14.

In the particular arrangement shown, oil is led to the air-oil pump device 1t) from a tank or other supply source by means of an inlet 15 and the pump, after providing for the requisite control of oil pressure and volume, delivers the oil to the oil line 7 through the connection 16 and solenoid valve 16 while excess oil is returned to the inlet side of the air-oil pump through the connection 17. The air tfrom the air-oil pump is delivered through the air line 18 to the airline 6 Within the draft tube 1.

The invention is particularly concerned with the burner head 4 and it will be understood that other sources of air and oil pressure to the burner head may be employed if desirable.

With reference particularly to FIGURES 2 and. 4, the body casting 5 will be seen to provide a central chamber 19 into which leads at one side as a tangent an air passage 20 which communicates with the air line 6 threaded into the body casting from the rear face as shown particularly in FIGURE 4.

' The body 5 is provided centrally with a threaded bore 21 extending therethrough perpendicular to the front and rear faces 22 and23 thereof respectively, the threaded bore intersecting the central chamber 19 with the cham ber 19 being of circularform centered on the axis of the bore 21. Threaded into the bore 21 from the rear face 23 is an adaptor 24 which connects with the oil line 7 through a suitable fitting 25 and received in a counterbore in the adaptor 24'is an oil tube 26 which extends axially through the body 5 and centered on the axis of the bore 21 and terminating in an open end 27 to form a discharge nozzle,the tube having immediately adjacent the end 27 a series of holes 28 formed in the periphery thereof and peripherally spaced therearo-und with their centers equidistant from the 'said open end 27. Mounted over the tube 26 is a sleeve '29 which is threaded at its inner end 30 to thread into the bore 21 from the front face 22 of the body 5. The outer end of the sleeve 29 is internally reduced as at 31 to form a close sliding fit with the exterior of the oil tube 26. The sleeve 29 is threaded into the bore 21 from the front face of the body 5 to bring the reduced end portion 31 adjacent to the holes 28, the adjustment being such that at least a portion of the holes 28 are within the sleeve 29 which may be considered a nozzle cover. A suitable lock-nut 32 is provided to lock the'sleeve 29 in adjusted positions. Preferably the sleeve 29 is threaded exteriorally as at 33 at its outer end so that if desired an additional nozzle, such as the nozzle 34, FIGURE 4, may be threaded thereon, although this nozzle not always be used, as for example, as shown in FIGURE 2.

The body 5 is provided with suitable bores 35 therethrough arranged with their axes parallel to the threaded bore 21 to receive the insulating sleeves 35 carrying electrodes 36 required to produce the spark gap for ignition of the burner, it being understood that the electrodes will be connected through connections (not shown) to a suitable high voltage transformer ltlti, as shown in FIGURE 2. These electrodes 36 may be moved axially of the bores 35' and they can be clamped in adjusted positions by means of suitable set-screws 37.

In addition, the body 5 is provided with lateral wing extensions 38 which carry bores 39 again parallel to the central threaded bore 21 and sli-dably received in t ese bores 39 are support rods 40 which carry a secondary air controlling or directing device in the form of a tuyere, such as the tuyere 9 designated in FIGURE 2, or the tuyere or air-directing device 41 shown in FIGURE 4.

For purposes oat mounting the tuyeres, the rods 40 are threaded at their outer end as at 42 and these outer threaded ends of the rods may thread directly into the tuyere 9, if construction is suitable, or as in the case of the device 41 in FIGURES 4 and 5, the rods 49 may be threaded into a bar 43 which in turn is bolted to the airdirecting device 41 as shown in FKGURE 5. The rods 40 may be clamped in adjusted axial positions by means of suitable set-screws 44.

The body casting 5 is also provided with a plurality of threaded bores 45 into which are threaded mounting legs in the form of screw-threaded members or bolts 46 held in adjusted positions by lock-nuts 47.

It will be understood that it is desired to have the axis of the central bore 21 of the body 5 and hence the axis of the oil tube 26 substantially coaxial with the axis of the draft tube 1 and the provision of the adjustable mounting legs or bolts 46 makes this mounting extremely simple.

It will be understood that the tuyere, for example, the tuyere 9 in FIGURE 2, will have its axis centered on the axis of the oil tube 26 and conveniently the tuyere may also carry an adjustable screw-threaded member 48 similar to the members 46 for providing additional support to maintain it coaxial of the draft tube.

It will be understood that to have universal application, the burner must be prepared to fire into a Wide variety of shapes of combustion chambers with all kinds of different lines and draft conditions. In certain instances, the secondary air for supporting combustion and for completing the atomization of the oil as hereinafter more fully explained may be delivered by a fan or blower such as the blower generally designated at '12 in FIG- URE l, or alternatively, the burner may create its own secondary air flow to allow the proper flame pattern and complete combustion to be obtained through a natural or induced draft. In any event, it is desirable to have a secondary air flow control, and to this end, the draft tube 1 as shown in FIGURE '2 is provided with a grating plate 4-9 having a series of fan-shaped openings 59 therein with which co-operate the damper plate 51 having corresponding openings adapted to be moved into and out of register with the openings 5tl to provide secondary air flow regulation, the damper plate 51 being held in adjusted position by means of clamp 52, the damper plate being provided with suitable cut-outs as illustrated at 53 and 54, to allow movement relative to the air and oil lines 6 and 7.

With reference particularly to FIGURE 4, it will be understood that oil at the requisite volume flow and predetermined pressure Will be delivered from the oil line 7 through the adaptor 24 and through the central oil tube 26 to the open discharge end 27 of the tube. At the same time, air under the requisite pressure greater than the oil pressure and at a predetermined volume flow will flow through the air line 6 and enter the central chamber 19 tangentially through the passage 20 and it will circulate around the central oil tube 26 and flow as an annular stream outwardly within the sleeve 29 until it reaches the holes 28, at which time it will, because of its relatively higher pressure than the oil pressure, enter the oil tube 26 and will commence to break up the oil column in a firststage atomization so that the oil emitted from the open or nozzle end 27 will be partially atomized.

With the arrangement shown in FIGURE 2, the partially atomized oil ejected from the open or nozzle end 27 of the oil tube 26 will be subjected to secondary air flowing through the grating 49 at the rear of the draft tube and entering the openings 55 in the tuyere 9. This secondary air will further break up the oil droplets to complete their atomization and when ignited by the energization of the electrodes 8, the secondary air entering the tuyere through the openings 55 will not only complete the atomization of the oil droplets for ignition but will provide the necesary air for complete combustion.

It will be understood that it will be necessary to adjust the control of the air and oil to the body 5 and as well the secondary air in order to get the smokeless combustion and these adjusmtents can be carried out with the proper CO and smoke recording instruments to determine when a smokeless flame providing substantially full theoretical combustion efliciency has been achieved, such efliciency having been found possible with by burner employing at least the first-stage atomization of the oil before it is ejected into the secondary air at the point of the flame.

It will be noted that in FIGURE 2 the oil after a firststage atomization is ejected from the open end of the oil tube 26 into the path of the secondary air while in FIGURE 4 a secondary nozzle 34 is threaded onto the sleeve or nozzle cover 2%. This secondary nozzle 34 is provided with a series of five peripherally spaced holes 56 in a protruding portion 57 at the front thereof with the holes 56 being directed so that the contained angle between the axis of the oil tube 26 and the axis of one of the holes 56 is substantially 45. This arrangement will cause the partially or initially atomized oil column to be discharged from the secondary nozzle as five separate flames having a relatively 90 spread. With this arrangement, each of these flames has been found to burn separately and completely independently and the separa tion of the partially atomized oil into the five streams allows for the maximum intimacy of admixture of the secondary air and the oil for complete combustion with respect to each of the live flames of the flame group.

It will also be noted that in the installation of FIG- URE 2, the tuyere 9 is of elongated cylindrical form to contain the relatively narrow flame produced by the nozzle formed by the open end 27 of the oil tube. In the installation in FIGURE 4, however, where a 90 flame spread is efiected, the tuyere or secondary air-directing device 41 is much shorter to accommodate the wider flame spread.

The 90 spread of the flame provided by the secondary nozzle 34 will be particularly adapted for a small diameter combustion chamber, but it will be appreciated that such a flame spread may be too wide in certain cases and yet a wider and/ or longer flame than the flame obtained with the arrangement of FIGURE 2 may be desired and therefore any number of other variations in the secondary nozzle 34 may be made as required. For example, FIG- URE 7 shows a secondary nozzle 53 in which the flame spread would be 30. FIGURE 8 shows a secondary nozzle 59 in which the flame spread would be 60, and, of course, nozzles with differing flame spreads as required can be provided.

In F IGURE 4, the secondary air-directing member 41 is provided around the inner perimeter thereof with a series of curved vanes 60 which will function to give a rotational movement to the secondary air so that a rotation of the flame will take place. In addition, the discharge mouth 41' of the device 41. has preferably an inward taper and is of a size corresponding to the flame spread desired to confine the secondary air to intimate mixing with the initially atomized oil but without interfering with flame spread.

Again, if desired, the tuyere 61 oi FIGURE 9 may be employed. This tuyere has a waist portion 62 and provides for increased secondary air at the point of ignition of the flame which increases flame velocity and intensity. Again, the tuyere is shown provided with adjustable mounting legs 63 for support in the draft tube 1.

The tuyere shown in FIGURE 10 is provided to allow for a widely diverging flame, the tuyere 64 having a main body portion 65 carrying two spaced rings 66 and 67, supported by means of spaced arms 68, the rings being arranged to deflect air inwardly towards the axis of the tuyere. In the tuyeres of FIGURES 2 and 9, the secondary air enters the tuyere through the holes provided therein while the tuyeres 41 and 64 have open portions to allow access of the secondary air to the flame area. It has been found that regardless of the shape of the tuyere, the total area of inlet air flow towards the flame area must be at least 25% of the open end of the tuyere and preferably may range to of the area of the open end of the tuyere.

Because of the fact that the burner head 4 can be mounted in the standard gun or draft tube of the con ventional oil burner, through the use of the simple body casting 5 and adjustable legs 46, my new burner provides a very simple conversion unit for replacing the heads of existing burners. In the mounting, the adjustable legs 45 are set to center the oil tube 26 on the axis of the draft tube, the secondary nozzle of the type required and the type of tuyere desired to suit the particular shape or requirements of the combustion chamber having previously been mounted on the sleeve 29 and rods 49. Following mounting of the burner head, the air and oil feed to the body 5 is set for complete smokeless combustion as is possible with the several stages of oil atomization as above described. This setting of the proper burning conditions may be very easily determined in the field through the use of suitable measuring instruments as previously mentioned.

It will be understood that while a number of diflerent constructions of tuyeres have been shown, and while it has been pointed out that where a secondary nozzle is required the construction of this nozzle may be of different forms, the details of such components herein illustrated are illustrative only of the invention and not intended to be limiting.

Because of the simple mounting tube arrangement of the burner head 5, not only can the head be used to replace existing burner heads, but further, the use of the supporting legs 46 allows the burner head to be easily shifted longitudinally of the draft tube 1 to adjust for any back pressure eliects that may be encountered in field installation, for instance, in installations having inadequate or improperly designed flues. This further provision for adjustment to suit field conditions along with the prow'sion for selective use of suitable shaped tuyeres and different flame spread nozzles allows my burner to function as a highly efilcient unit in conjunction with all of the different types of furnace combustion chambers and flue conditions expected to be encountered in the domestic oil burner field.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that variations in the precise details of the arrangements may readily be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an oil burner, the combination with a draft tube leading into a combustion chamber, of a body member, means supporting said body member centrally of said tube, said body member having centrally thereof at one side an inlet and at the other side an outlet, means for leading oil into said inlet, an oil flow tube arrangement extending through said body and projecting out of said outlet substantially coaxially of said draft tube and terminating in an open end forming a first nozzle and having a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings through the wall thereof adjacent to said nozzle, said body having an air chamber formed therein surrounding said oil tube and having an inlet passage leading into said chamber and an outlet concentrically surrounding said oil tube, a'nozzle cover surrounding said tube to provide an annular air passage around said tube leading from said chamber outlet, said nozzle cover terminating adjacent to said nozzle in an internally reduced portion having a close sliding fit with said on tube adjacent to the nozzle end thereof, said holes being enclosed at least in part Within said cover, and a secondary nozzle having a plurality of circumferentially spaced outlets mounted on said nozzle cover in close proximity and supported thereby in advance of said first nozzle, said secondary nozzle having a circumference substantially equal to the circumference of said first nozzle whereby a plurality of discrete fiam-es are produced, and secondary air directing means carried by said body member and concentrically surrounding said first and secondary nozzles, said secondary air direction means being adjustable relative I to said body member axially of said nozzles.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said secondary air directing means comprises a tuyere mounted on rods slida-bly received in said body'member for movement in a direction axially of said oil tube.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 in which said tuyere has an open outlet end in advance of said nozzle and an inlet air formation for delivering air inwardly towards the nozzle axis, the area of total air inlet being from 25% to 95% of said outlet area.

4. In an oil burner, the combination with a draft tube leading into a combustion chamber, of a body member, means supporting said body member centrally of said tube, said body member having centrally thereof at one side an inlet and at the other side an outlet, means for leading oil into said inlet, an oil flow tube arrangement extending through said body and projecting out of said outlet substantially coaxially of said draft tube and terminating in an open end forming a first nozzle and having a plurality of cireumferentially spaced openings through the Wall thereof adjacent to said nozzle, said body having an air chamber formed therein surrounding said oil tube and having an inlet passage'leading into said chamber and an outlet concentrically surrounding said oil tube, a nozzle cover surrounding said tube to provide an annular air passage around said tube leading from said chamber outlet, said nozzle cover terrm'nating adjacent to said nozzle in an internally reduced portion having a close sliding fit with said oil tube adjacent to the nozzle end thereof, said holes being enclosed at least in part within said cover, and a secondary nozzle having a plurality of circumferentially spaced outlets mounted on said nozzle cover in close proximity and supported thereby in advance of said nozzle, said secondary nozzle having a circumference substantially equal to the circumference of said first nozzle whereby a plurality of discrete flames are produced, said means for supporting said body member in said draft tube comprising legs carried by said body member and extending radially outwardly of the axis oil tube, said legs being adjustable towards and from the axis of said oil tube.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,199,716 9/1916 Severs l5876 1,587,249 6/1926 Starr l5873 2,199,771 5/1940 Young 15876 2,634,806 4/1953 Hirtz 158-76 2,946,185 7/1960 Bayer 239-429 X FREDERICK L. MATTESON, 111., Primary Examiner.

MEYER PERLIN, JAMES W. WESTHAVER,

Examiners. 

1. IN AN OIL BURNER, THE COMBINATION WITH A DRAFT TUBE LEADING INTO A COMBUSTION CHAMBER, OF A BODY MEMBER, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID BODY MEMBER CENTRALLY OF SAID TUBE, SAID BODY MEMBER HAVING CENTRALLY THEREOF AT ONE SIDE AN INLET AND AT THE OTHER SIDE AN OUTLET, MEANS FOR LEADING OIL INTO SAID INLET, AN OIL FLOW TUBE ARRANGEMENT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID BODY AND PROJECTING OUT OF SAID OUTLET SUBSTANTIALLY COAXIALLY OF SAID DRAFT TUBE AND TERMINATING IN AN OPEN END FORMING A FIRST NOZZLE AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED OPENINGS THROUGH THE WALL THEREOF ADJACENT TO SAID NOZZLE, SAID BODY HAVING AN AIR CHAMBER FORMED THEREIN SURROUNDING SAID OIL TUBE AND HAVING AN INLET PASSAGE LEADING INTO SAID CHAMBER AND AN OUTLET CONCENTRICALLY SURROUNDING SAID OIL TUBE, A NOZZLE COVER SURROUNDING SAID TUBE TO PROVIDE AN ANNULAR AIR PASSAGE AROUND SAID TUBE LEADING FROM SAID CHAMBER OUTLET, SAID NOZZLE COVER TERMINATING ADJACENT TO SAID NOZZLE IN AN INTERNALLY REDUCED PORTION HAVING A CLOSE SLIDING FIT WITH SAID OIL TUBE ADJACENT TO THE NOZZLE END THEREOF, SAID HOLES BEING ENCLOSED AT LEAST IN PART WITHIN SAID COVER, AND A SECONDARY NOZZLE HAVING A PLU- 